


The Golden Pair

by camichats



Category: Beauty Pop (Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Getting Together, Marriage Proposal, Post-Canon, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:49:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26164411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Kiri moves to America to be with her family. Her and Billy end up together before moving back to Japan, but naturally, their friends don't know anything about it.
Relationships: Billy Iketani/Koshiba Kiri
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	The Golden Pair

"Oh, Billy," Kiri said, opening the door. "You're back."

"Y-yeah," Billy said. Fuck. He'd stuttered. Not to mention that he'd been caught staring at them instead of just walking in-- it's not like he needed to knock since he was staying there. It was suspicious as all hell for him to be like that, but if she asked about it, he'd say something about not wanting to interrupt them. He couldn't admit that guilt was eating him from the inside out before he'd even done anything. 

And then... 

Kiri smiled at him. 

It made him freeze in place. When he first showed up, Kiri never would have smiled at him. She'd been so annoyed with him, like she couldn't stand him being there. Strangely enough, she'd started to like him after he'd been in her room, looking for the golden scissors. Why she decided to trust him after _that_ , he had no idea. 

"Welcome home," she said. "Are you hungry? Dinner's ready." 

"Yeah I'm hungry." Not that he knew if he'd be able to stomach much, but it would give him time to stall. He was supposed to find the scissors before the final round of that competition they were in. He didn't know how the hell he was going to do it, but his boss seemed awfully sure that he was going to be able to pull it off. Kiri was smiling at him and seemed genuinely happy to see him. How could he throw that back in her face? After everything that Emily and Seiji had done for him by letting him stay here, and then Kiri by actually being friends with him, even after everything he'd done... god. He had no idea what he was going to do. 

"Kanako just finished." 

"I'm surprised to see everyone here," he said, looking around. Looked like all of SP was here. That wasn't going to make it any easier. More people to see him skulking around. If he decided to go through with it, that is. He still hadn't decided. After seeing Seiji with the scissors, it felt wrong to take them away; he deserved to have them. Billy knew he was better than old Narumi, but even he couldn't compare to Seiji. Stealing them just to give to Narumi- whatever. They were about to eat, and he didn't have to think about it for a while. 

"Training for the final." 

"And you agreed?" That sounded a little unbelievable. 

Kiri shrugged. "We have the space." 

'We' as if he was actually a part of the family. She wasn't making this decision any easier on him. His nausea got a little worse, and he swallowed it down. 

* * *

Billy was sitting on the back porch while all her friends started setting up the living room to sleep in. Kiri didn't have any of it prepared, and he didn't know if that was because she was lazy or because she hadn't known they were all planning on staying over night. They'd been practicing before dinner, and he was pretty sure he'd heard them mention something about practicing more tomorrow. It was good that they were taking it seriously, because this was one of the bigger competitions for novice teams. Kiri could do a hell of a lot better, but up until recently, she hadn't planned on pursuing a career in being a stylist. This team, this event, it was probably to help her regain the confidence that she had lost somewhere in her life. 

Kiri sat down next to him, making him jump. He hadn't heard her come up. She didn't say anything about it, just offered him a juice box. He took it, but only because she had another one in her hand for herself. "You got home late." 

"Yeah." He opened the juice and took a sip. When he glanced at her, she was giving him a long look. "What? Something on my face?" 

"Other than your bangs?" 

"I'm not letting you cut them." 

"Hmph." 

...She was still looking. "What?" Billy asked again. 

"You're a professional stylist." 

"Yeah, so?" 

"So why are you here? Don't you have that movie in Hollywood to be working on with my mom?" 

Billy looked back towards his juice. He took another sip and hoped in vain that she wouldn't remember what she'd asked him. Or maybe that she would drift off like she did so often, and he'd be able to pretend that it never happened. The old man had told him to come here, so he'd come. Besides, after failing to give Jodie the hairstyle she'd wanted, the director had been fine using the assistant stylists that were there in his absence. He hadn't exactly proved himself the stylist genius that he was supposed to be. 

"I thought you'd be done with regular schooling by now, anyways. Isn't that what they do in America?" 

"I was studying in my free time. That's what professionals in Hollywood do. They do their jobs all day long, and at night, they cram to get their diplomas." 

"Why come here?" 

Billy shrugged, and after a minute, she looked away. 

"You shouldn't stay out here. You could catch a cold." 

"I'll be inside in a minute." 

Kiri nodded, and he expected for her to get up. Instead, she opened her juice, chugged all of it, yawned, and leaned tiredly against his shoulder. 

"You can go to bed," he said quietly. 

"Can't leave you alone. Seiji-kun said." 

"You call your dad Seiji-kun?" 

"Meh." It was completely noncommittal, but somehow he felt like it answered his question. 

Billy snorted quietly, drinking a little more. He tried to keep from moving his shoulder so that he didn't disturb her, but it's not like a person's shoulder was very comfortable. "You could go pro, too, you know. I saw you doing the three master cuts before." 

"I've still got a long way to go," she muttered. 

"You don't have to be the best to be a professional." Granted, he'd become a professional because he'd already thought that he was the best, but it was good to have a profile already put together. Being Koshiba Seiji's daughter meant a lot right now because she was still young, but by the time she was twenty-five, it wouldn't mean anything. "You could visit Emi and take a job on a short film or something. It wouldn't pay much, but it would get something on your resume other than working in your father's shop." 

"I don't cut hair to make money." Her tone made it obvious that she didn't like Billy very much if that was his only reason for doing it. 

There were a couple different things he could say here, but all of it felt like he'd be manipulating her, and he just... didn't care to do that. Besides, past attempts had taught him that it wasn't worth it to bother. "When did you learn to do the corkscrew cut?" 

Kiri yawned again, wider than before. 

Billy gave a quiet laugh. "Let me guess: you watched your father do it." That was so typical of her. 

"I'm tired," was all she said. 

Billy thought about telling her again that she could go inside without him, but she already knew that. She wanted him to come in too; it was the reason she'd come out here in the first place. Billy tossed back the rest of his juice. "Let's go inside." 

They got to their feet, and Kiri tossed their empty bottles in the recycle. Kiri said goodnight to some of her friends, but Billy went straight to his room; it's not like he got along with any of them anyways. Well, maybe the girl with the glasses. She was nice to everyone and pretty harmless. She wasn't trying to prove anything; she was just being a good friend to Kiri. He sat on the edge of the bed after changing, still unsure what he was going to do. 

He didn't have much time to himself before a soft knock came at the door, followed by Kiri pushing her head in. "Billy?" 

"Hm?" 

"You okay?" she asked, stepping in and sliding the door shut behind her. She padded over and sat on the bed next to him. 

He brought a hand up to fiddle with his hair. "Yeah, I'm fine." 

"Are your lies always so obvious?" 

He snorted. Considering that she'd known exactly what he was looking for when he'd gone snooping through her room, he said, "Yeah, probably. I don't suppose you know what I should do?" 

"Whatever's best for you," she said, the answer coming quickly and firmly enough that not only did he knew she meant it, but she'd thought about it before. "I always do whatever helps me sleep." 

"You need help with that?" Billy asked doubtfully. 

Kiri didn't answer. Either because she was nodding off, she didn't have anything further to add, or because she was giving him time to think. No matter what her intent, Billy turned it over in his mind as she sat beside him. His career with Narumi would be decimated if he didn't give the old man the scissors. 

Maybe... maybe Kiri had been right before. She didn't cut hair to make money off of it; she did it to help people. That stupid Scissor's Project that they were all so proud of was silly to him, but maybe there was something there. They all did it because they enjoyed themselves, and the girl was always so happy afterwards. The publicity of it was a touch childish, but they were still in high school. They'd gone to competitions before, but they didn't know how professionals did things. Billy, truth be told, barely knew how it worked. He was just starting to break out into the professional world himself. 

He wasn't sure that he liked it. It was cutthroat. Competition and proving you were the best was fun, but there was a lot more backstabbing than he liked with his current position. The boss wasn't making it easy, either. Billy sighed. 

Kiri rubbed at her eyes tiredly, looking over at him. 

"Thanks," he whispered. 

"I didn't do anything," she muttered. 

"Yeah. You did." He put an arm around her and buried his face in the top of her head. "Thanks." He tried to pull back after a moment, but Kiri's hand was tight in his shirt. With a small smile, he leaned back in. 

* * *

"Kiri-chan's moving here?" Billy asked. Emily was her usual cheerful self, but she was watching him a little closer than normal. He hadn't told her much about his time in Japan, and he knew that Kiri-chan didn't talk to her about that kind of stuff. Seiji-san would have done it if he knew, but he hadn't been around when the shit hit the fan. 

"Yep! When I was in the hospital, I realized that I missed them too much to keep living here by myself. My career is here, so they agreed to move. You got along when you were staying with them, didn't you?" 

Billy nodded. 

"Great," Emily said with a grin. "Kiri had said something like that when I last talked to her, but she can be a bit absentminded. I already talked to Seiji-kun about it, and you can say no if you want, but we were thinking that you could live with us." 

"Um. I... appreciate the offer, but I already have somewhere to stay this time." 

"I know, I know," she said, waving a hand dismissively, “but I worry about you being on your own. I know, you're a strong, independent professional, but there's no harm in having some family around. I know you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, but you're still seventeen. There's no need to be living by yourself. We’re here for you, and that’s not just when you’re drowning; it’s for all the little things too." 

Family. God. She wasn't wrong. Before his trip, he wouldn't have even considered it, but it was a very tempting offer. He'd nearly stayed there. Would have done, if his whole life wasn't in LA. He'd had a lot of work to do when he got back, but things were a bit smoother now. Smooth enough that he wouldn't mind taking her up on it. "If you're sure...?" 

She brightened. How she did that when was already so cheerful was a mystery to him, but she managed it. "We would be delighted. I'm sure Kiri will be happy to see you again." 

"Yeah," Billy said with a somewhat awkward smile. "I'll be happy to see her too." 

It hadn't been easy to get past the initial awkwardness, but him and Kiri had kept in touch via email since he went back to LA. Not about anything big. Mostly he asked how her cuts were, and she asked how his re-branding was going. His answer: he'd expected for it to be a lot worse. If he was in Japan, it might have been impossible to get work with Narumi black-listing him, but in America, he didn't have that kind of pull. The school was prestigious here, not the man, and no one could argue with Billy's skill. 

Her answer: soon I'll be better than Dad. 

Billy went to the airport with Emily to pick them up. She'd already passed along that he was living with them, and he hoped that they were actually as okay with it as Emily said. When he saw Kiri, she shoved one of her bags onto his shoulder and stole a drink from his soda before passing it back. "You still have those bangs," she muttered, and Billy smirked; yep, they were good. 

He hoped that she'd brought those scissors with her. Not for the same reason as before because he had no interest in taking them for himself, but because he wanted to see them in use again. She looked like magic when she used them. 

* * *

**A few years later**

Billy and Kiri had been dating for a couple years. Pretty much as soon as she moved to LA, to be honest. 

Kiri had gone to a beauty school for exactly one semester before they told her that she was wasting her money because she already knew how to do all of this. Hell, Billy could have told them that before she went to a single class. She could probably teach all of those classes by the time she was fifteen. She'd switched to art classes, just for something to do, and ended up graduating with an associate's. "Not that I wanted it," she'd admitted to Billy with a sigh after she had her diploma in hand. She hadn't been ready to move back to Japan before college since Seiji-kun was planning on staying in LA for a while longer. Emily was sticking around too, and though she hadn't said it, Billy got the feeling that his presence had factored in too. 

Point was that Kiri said, over dinner in their little apartment that they'd gotten together about a year ago, "I want to move back to Japan." 

Billy froze with his spoon in the stew they’d made for dinner. "Oh." They hadn't made any promises or anything, but he'd sort of- well, he'd thought that they were serious. The kind of serious where you didn't move to another country. 

"What do you think?" 

He glanced up at her, and she was watching him-- eyes wide and guileless. "It's... good. If that's what you want to do." 

"Is it something you want to do?" 

_Oh_. She was asking for him to move there too. God, he'd just about had a heart attack, thinking that she was breaking up with him. "Are you opening the shop back up?" 

"If Dad gives me the keys." So, yes. 

"You want a partner?" 

"You'd get bored." 

She wasn't wrong. Billy blew out a breath, looking down into his bowl. 

"We don't have to." But she wanted to. 

"Can I get some time to think about it?"

She nodded, then turned to her own food. 

Going with her was definitely more appealing than breaking up, but he hadn't given any thought to moving to Japan. America was his home. In that vein, he probably should've seen this coming; of course Kiri was going to want to go home. Except for the part where Billy and her parents lived here, there wasn't anything in this country for her. She didn't like the glitz of Hollywood, she barely liked the people, and she definitely didn't like the food more. The idea of moving to Japan full time though... he wasn't sure he could do it. He’d liked his last visit, but visiting was different from living there full time. 

"When do you need an answer by?" Billy asked. 

"Before the lease runs out." 

A little over a month. He could do that. It was a hard decision to make, but if he couldn't be sure when the time came, it would mean that the answer was no. "Okay," he said, and she nodded. They went back to eating, with their usual comfortable silence. 

It was weird. 

Billy had thought he would need most of that time to make his decision, but he had an answer by the end of the night. Rather, he had one question, and depending on the answer, there was either no need to go to Japan, or he'd be able to make it work. Emily, before deciding to temporarily move to LA, had traveled around for her job. She'd gone home between jobs and when there was a delay in filming; Billy could do that. 

The trouble was, he had no reason to do that. Not if their relationship stayed the way it was. Emily had been able to do that because her daughter was older and she'd been married. If Seiji had just been a boyfriend, there's no way it would have worked. 

So the solution was simple, if not easy. If they were planning on getting married, then he'd go with her. If that wasn't something she wanted, then they'd break up. They hadn't really talked about marriage before. It's not like they didn't communicate, but neither of them were comfortable having emotional conversations when they didn't have to. 

This was a situation where they would have to. 

They had both gotten changed for bed. Kiri was reading a book, and Billy was messing with his planner, wondering how he would deal with all of this when he moved. _If_ he moved. "Kiri?" 

"Hmm?" 

"Are we... serious?" 

She glanced over at him. "I would think so." 

Billy closed the planner, thumb tapping on the cover nervously. 

She tilted her head, then closed her book. She turned to face him more fully. "You don't have to come with me. We'd still see each other. It wouldn't mean breaking up." 

"You say that, but it's what would end up happening." Billy took a deep breath, then said, "Unless we were serious. _Really_ serious." 

"Married, serious," Kiri said. 

"Yeah." 

"Okay." 

"Okay?" he repeated, and she nodded. "What does okay mean?" He knew what he _wanted_ it to mean, but he wasn't going to jump to any conclusions. 

"It means I agree. We should be... serious. And we should do it before we leave." 

"That way your parents can come," Billy guessed. She'd said yes. Holy shit, she'd actually said yes. On the list of unbelievable things to happen to him, this was number two on the list-- right after letting her decide on his new hairstyle, which yes looked better, but he still wasn't sure he liked more. 

She nodded again. 

"I don't want a big ceremony." 

"Neither do I." 

Billy opened his planner again. "I'm free tomorrow afternoon if we want to get our license." 

"Sure." 

He wrote it in. 

"I don't know what a ceremony needs." 

"We can go to the courthouse for it. If we've got the license and your parents, we should be fine. It's not like you'll need a dress or anything." Not that Billy knew the specifics either, but they could go there with no hassle, and it was a hell of a lot cheaper than the normal weddings people did. Plus, he doubted that Kiri would want to change her hair and don a fluffy white dress for the ceremony. 

"Alright." She yawned widely, then threw her arms around him lazily. She kissed his cheek, then his mouth when he turned his head. "We'll set a date, and I'll tell my parents." There was a pause as she made a disgruntled face, imagining the fuss they'd raise. She leaned back down and stretched her arms over her head. 

Billy rubbed at his eyes. "Do you want me to tell them?" 

"They'd yell at me later," she grumbled. 

"If we tell them together, maybe it won't be as bad." 

Kiri nodded. 

"For better or worse, right?" Billy said with a smirk. 

Kiri snorted, then kissed him again. 

* * *

"Why did Mussy Head tell you that she was coming back and not the rest of us?" Narumi asked, more than a little grumpy that Kei was the one with the information about the return of his biggest-- read: only-- rival. 

"Perhaps because Kei does not call Koshiba-san names that she does not appreciate," Ochiai said. 

Narumi knew better, but how the hell did Ochiai know about that? He hadn't told him, and there was no way that Koshiba had. "If she didn't want to be called Mussy Head, she should've had a better hairstyle. Do you think she's changed it since she left?" He really hoped so. She'd look better with longer hair, in his humble opinion. 

"Probably not," Kei said, rocking back on his heels. "You haven't changed yours. None of us have." Not Kei, Ochiai, Seki, Iori, or even Chisami. "Except for Kana-chan, of course," he added with a grin in her direction. She'd kept it short since Kiri's last cut to give her this hairstyle, even though she said it felt weird for anyone else to do it. Narumi had been the one to cut her hair for her, insisting every single time, that this one was going to be the time he did it better than Kiri. That promise had yet to be followed through, to no one's surprise. 

"Kiri-chan told me when she would be here, but I didn't think it was my place to tell you," Kanako said, a touch nervously. Although, if she'd told Kei, Kiri should know to expect the whole group. When she told Kanako, Kanako had told her that she'd be bringing Taro and Kenichiro with her. Kiri hadn't objected, but she'd also sent it right before she got on the plane, probably-- there was a chance that she'd checked her email again before leaving the house, but Kanako wouldn't bet on it. Knowing Kiri, she'd sent it right before leaving so that she wouldn't get any grief for not telling them. 

They were all waiting at the airport even though they knew that Kiri wouldn't care. She'd be happy to see Kanako, and Kenichiro too, probably. Everyone else was a bit of a toss-up. She'd never had any problems with Kei, but they hadn't exactly been close. Taro had been her best friend, but she always acted like she couldn't care less if he was around. Iori was... well, he was here, and Kiri had gotten used to that; there was no getting rid of him, especially since he was a member of SP now. Chisami had insisted on coming, thankfully old enough that she'd let go of her prince obsession-- specifically with thinking that Kiri was her prince-- although she had skipped out on her classes to be here. Kiri had ignored Ochiai half the time he tried to talk to her, and then there was the rivalry between her and Narumi to consider. 

All of that meant that Kanako was more than a little nervous for Kiri's reaction. Kiri had told her about what she was up to in LA, but very little in the way of how she felt about being there or how her personal life was going. She hadn't mentioned if she missed the SP, much less if she planned on seeing them again. But then, telling Kei about her return lent Kanako to thinking that Kiri did plan to at least have a catch up dinner, even if she wasn't planning on rejoining them like Ochiai hoped; she wasn't blind to the fact that one of the reasons she'd been hired to work for them was to try and entice Kiri, but it was a steady job that paid well so she didn't much care if part of the motivation for it had been to manipulate Kiri-- specifically because she knew it wouldn't actually effect Kiri's decision. 

"There she is!" Kei said, raising a hand high to wave. They all turned that direction, and sure enough, there was Kiri. She had a bag over one shoulder, and on her other side was- "Is that Billy-san with her?" 

"Look on the bright side Narumi," Ochiai said, " _His_ hair is different." 

"How the hell is that the bright side?" Narumi grumbled. Evidently, he was very bothered by Kiri having the same hairstyle as before she'd left. 

"Because he looks better this way," Kei supplied cheerfully. 

Across the way, Kiri sighed, sounding tired. It had been a long flight, and even though she'd known that telling Kei would end up like this, she'd kind of been hoping that the whole group would be too busy to come. Weren't they supposed to have SP up and running? Weren't they booked solid for the next month? That's what Kanako had told her. There's no way they all happened to have this day free by accident. "Is there any way we can leave without talking to them?" 

"I don't think so. Well, not for you. I could slip out without any of them caring," he added thoughtfully, but before the plan could truly form in his mind, Kiri's hand gripped his arm tightly. Damn. No escape. They weren't even his friends, why did he have to deal with this? The answer, of course, was that he was here. Maybe he should've worded his vows a little differently. 

"Kiri-chan!" Kanako said in excitement, throwing her arms around her. 

With one arm, Kiri hugged her back. The other was still holding onto Billy. Evidently, she didn't trust him not to run off to baggage claim so he had an excuse not to be here; she knew him too well. 

"What's he doing here?" Narumi demanded, pointing a finger at Billy. God, he hadn't changed at all, had he? He looked older, but it was like everything else about him was the same. He still wore plaid shirts, for example. How could someone that rich have such poor taste? 

"Same reason as everyone else," Billy said, pairing it with a smile that he knew would piss him off. 

"Ooo, Kiri-chan, did you get engaged?" Kei asked. He had his face a few centimetres from her hand, inspecting the new ring. 

"That's not an engagement ring, that's a wedding ring," Taro said. "I think that Kiri went and got married without telling any of us." 

"She told me," Billy said. 

"That doesn't count, you were in the same country. None of the rest of us had a chance," Iori said with a sniff, as if that was what was important here. "Kirity! Why didn't you tell **me** about it? I would have come!" 

Billy rolled his eyes. He wondered how long it would take for someone to figure it out-- or, alternatively, how long it took for Kiri to get fed up and tell them. 

"That's definitely a wedding ring," Ochiai said. He'd leaned forward to peer at it along with most everyone else. 

"Who the hell would marry you?" Narumi said, and Kiri glared at him. 

"Have you ever dated someone?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Narumi's blush was enough of an answer, even as he stuttered, trying to deny it. 

"Kiri-chan, I'm so happy for you!" Kanako beamed. She knew it was an effort in futility to berate her, and she was just happy to know now. "I hope you introduce us some day." 

Kiri smiled at her, but otherwise didn't respond. "Let's go get our bags." They'd only brought one bag each, with the rest of their things being shipped. 

There was various chatter as the whole group followed them around. It sounded like Ochiai was already trying his pitch, and Kiri was solidly ignoring him to listen to Taro's stories from university. 

"You two make a cute couple," Kei said to Billy, quiet enough that no one could overhear-- busy as they were talking to Kiri and arguing amongst themselves. Kei saw a lot more than people thought. 

"Thanks," Billy said. 

"I wonder how long it's going to take Occhi-kun to figure it out," he said lightly, looking over at him. 

Billy looked too, then had to stifle a laugh. He'd noticed, back when they were teenagers, that Ochiai and Narumi both had liked her, but he'd sort of thought that they'd grow out of it. Evidently, they had not. It was all the more embarrassing for Narumi, since Billy wasn't even sure the man _knew_ that he had a crush on her. Learning that she was married hadn't done much to change them in the last minute and a half, and he expected that it would last a while longer if they couldn't figure out who she was married to. "A while," Billy managed to say. It was so hard not to bust up laughing at them. Kiri was giving them a look like they were insane, but they didn't let that bother them-- and that's when she bothered to look at them at all. "How've you been?" 

Kei shrugged, rocking back on his heels. "I can buy all the snacks I want, and I get to paint nails all day." He grinned at Billy. "It's not so bad. We should get dinner. Maybe not tonight," he added when Iori got into the mix and Kiri escaped from being stuck right next to them, "but this weekend." 

"I'll check with Kiri, but that sounds good." He glanced at Kiri, who looked like she was about to storm off if she didn't get some personal space in the next ten seconds. "Can you help with crowd control?" 

Kei winked at him. "Leave it to me." 


End file.
